String Reading Issues

I'm working on an assignment that takes some inputs for an address book. However, I have problems getting the input to read properly. Here's the section so far:

Code:

char addcontact ()
{
        auto char input1[100], input2[100], input3[100], input4[6], input5[10];
        char c;
        int cnt = 0;
        fflush (stdin);
        printf("First Name: ");
        fgets(input1, 100, stdin);
        strcpy (InfoList[listcnt].firstname, input1);

        printf("Last Name: ");
        fgets(input2, 100, stdin);
        strncpy (InfoList[listcnt].lastname, input2, cnt);

        printf("Address: ");
        while ((c = getchar()) != '\n')
        fgets(input3, 100, stdin);
        strncpy (InfoList[listcnt].address, input3, cnt);

        printf("Postal Code: ");
        fgets(input4, 7, stdin);
        strcpy (InfoList[listcnt].pcode, input4);

        printf("Phone Number: ");
        fgets(input5, 11, stdin);
        strcpy (InfoList[listcnt].phone, input5);

        listcnt++;
        menu();
}

The input:

Code:

First Name: John
Last Name: Doe
Address: 123 Street

Postal Code: A1B 2C3
Phone Number:

And the output:

Code:

Contact 1
First Name: John

Last Name:
Address:
Postal Code: A1B- 2C
Phone Number: (3
) -

I have to press return twice to get past the address section, and it won't even let me enter a phone number. After that, it ignores the address and for some reason overflows the postal code into the phone number. Any idea what's wrong here?

Code:

        while ((c = getchar()) != '\n')
            fgets(input3, 100, stdin);

That doesn't make sense to me, unless you want to wait for a '\n' from the keyboard.
but then it would have to be

Code:

        while ((c = getchar()) != '\n');

Code:

strncpy (InfoList[listcnt].lastname, input2, cnt);

You have initialized cnt to 0 -> nothing will be copied.

Kurt

You're also using fflush(stdin), which makes no sense at all.
See the FAQ.

If you're using fgets(), then don't use any scanf() calls, as this will surely mess you up.

Originally Posted by ZuK

Code:

        while ((c = getchar()) != '\n')
            fgets(input3, 100, stdin);

That doesn't make sense to me, unless you want to wait for a '\n' from the keyboard.
but then it would have to be

Code:

        while ((c = getchar()) != '\n');

Code:

strncpy (InfoList[listcnt].lastname, input2, cnt);

You have initialized cnt to 0 -> nothing will be copied.

Kurt

Gah, sorry, those are all stupid proofreading mistakes, stuff I forgot to nuke from prior fixing attempts.

Salem, I couldn't find anything in the FAQs about fflush-what should I be using?

Anyways, here's what I've got now:

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

struct InfoStruct
{
        char firstname[40];
        char lastname[40];
        char address[100];
        char pcode[6];
        char phone[10];
}InfoList[10];

int listcnt = 0;

int menu ();
char addcontact();
char displaycontacts();

int main ()
{
        menu();
}

int menu()
{
        int choice;
        char c[1];

        printf("1: Add New Contact\n");
        printf("2: Display Current Contacts\n");
        printf("3: Search for a contact\n");
        printf("4: Save to a file\n");
        printf("5: Load contacts from file\n");
        printf("6: Exit\n");
        printf("Enter a choice: ");
        fgets(c, 1, stdin);
        choice = atoi(c);

        switch(choice)
  {
                case 1:
                        addcontact();
                break;

                case 2:
                        displaycontacts();
                break;

                case 3:
                        printf("Search for a contact\n");
                break;

                case 4:
                        printf("Save to a file\n");
                break;

                case 5:
                        printf("Load contacts from file\n");
                break;
                
               case 6:

                break;

                default:
                        printf("Please enter a valid selection\n");
        }

}

char addcontact ()
{
        auto char input1[100], input2[100], input3[100], input4[6], input5[10];
        char c;
        int cnt = 0;
        fflush (stdin);
        printf("First Name: ");
        fgets(input1, 100, stdin);
        strcpy (InfoList[listcnt].firstname, input1);

        printf("Last Name: ");
        fgets(input2, 100, stdin);
        strcpy (InfoList[listcnt].lastname, input2);

        printf("Address: ");
        fgets(input3, 100, stdin);
        strcpy (InfoList[listcnt].address, input3);

        printf("Postal Code: ");
        fgets(input4, 7, stdin);
        strcpy (InfoList[listcnt].pcode, input4);

        printf("Phone Number: ");
        fgets(input5, 11, stdin);
        strcpy (InfoList[listcnt].phone, input5);

        listcnt++;
        menu();
}

The problem now is that I can't even take an input for the menu, and I still can't put anything into the Phone entry.

Well, fflush(stdin) is "undefined" - fflush is guaranteed only for output [where forces any buffered data to be actually output to the file itself].

Code:

while ((c = getchar()) != '\n');

will remove any input in the buffer - however, to "start" with that means that if the user hasn't got a newline already typed in, the user will have to type it in. It is probably better if you change your code in your menu - more on that below.

Code:

        char c[1];
        ....
        printf("Enter a choice: ");
        fgets(c, 1, stdin);
        choice = atoi(c);

I doubt this ever works. c is an array of a single character. reading in one character with fgets() will get you "an empty string", because that's the only string that fits in one character [c[0] = '\0' and nothing else - because there are no further elements in the array to hold anything else]. You need to make it a char-array of at least 2 to be able to read anything sensible in. If you make it another character, it will also read in the newline after the user's choice. If you want to know if there was any other "rubbish" typed in, you can check the second character like this:

Code:

   if (c[1] != '\n') ...  // more than one digit/letter entered - perhaps you should read away anything else in the input buffer with the code suggested above.

Finally, atoi() is extremely bad at handling error conditions - such as "no numbers" or "more numbers than can fit into an integer" [not a problem if you only read one or two digits, but it's worth bearing in mind if you ever feel tempted to use it elsewhere].

The solution to the "atoi drawbacks" is to use "strtol()", which is much more wellbehaved in a stressed situation.

I hope this helps.

--
Mats

Well, the fflush seems to be working for what I need it to do, and that's to get rid of the newline read in from the menu.

However, I still can't get it to read in the last section. Here's what happens when I run:

Code:

1: Add New Contact
2: Display Current Contacts
3: Search for a contact
4: Save to a file
5: Load contacts from file
6: Exit
Enter a choice: 1
First Name: John
Last Name: Doe
Address: 123 X Street
Postal Code: A1B2C3
Phone Number: 1: Add New Contact
2: Display Current Contacts
3: Search for a contact
4: Save to a file
5: Load contacts from file
6: Exit
Enter a choice: 6

use this function instead of fflush. This does the same job. Call then before the fgets.

Code:

void clear_buffer(void)
{
     int ch;
     
     while((ch = getchar()) != '\n' && ch != EOF);
}

ssharish

> fgets(c, 1, stdin);
This is useless.
To store any input from the user, you need at least TWO chars (one for a user input character, and another for a \0).
If you passed a decent sized array, then the whole need for fflush(stdin) GOES AWAY.

Besides, if your argument for using it is "it seems to work", then that doesn't help your case.

That's not there anymore, it's been changed to actually work.